The Twisted Roofs of Lisburn

Castle Street sits in the heart of Lisburn’s historical quarter, many of the Georgian buildings remain but some are in an advanced state of disrepair, roofless and overgrown. Like a scene from a Tim Burton German Expressionist influenced film the roofs twist and turn.

The Castle and Cathedral date back to the 17th century but even in the last 30 years the area is been in a rapid state of transition. In the 1970s Castle street was home of the Technical College, Police Station and Council buildings all of which have expanded to new improved sites.

The Castle Arcade was home of Brenda’s hair stylist whose door even today advertises a 4 digit phone number. The Arcade was also home to Kismet, The Gear Box (Lisburn’s first guitar dedicated music shop), and Rainbow Coffee & Book shop.

As well as the ‘Electric Board’ and a busy Dunnes Stores Montgomery’s was one of the busiest sweet shops and cafes in the town providing a range of drinks such as malt shakes or ice cream floats that would likely be banned if they were on offer today.

It is interesting to see the skyline across the city from the vantage point of R-Space. It is hard to believe the view from this window is modern Lisburn and it is a good thing!

All photos were shot with the Fujifilm X100 with the exception of the last photo that was shot with a Canon 5D MKII 50mm lens that was set up for film making!. All mono conversion was via the flixelpix mono preset for Lightroom 4. There are a few more photos in the Lisburn Flickr Set.